Realizing that we are distracted by the fact that we don't know if Britney is in rehab or not anymore, it's about time for the newest addition of the hit column "Senate Recap!"
According to Suze Orman, internationally acclaimed Finance Expert: "Senate Recap by Tyler Hauger and Andrew Foxwell will triple your home financial mortgage ratings by three fold in under six months! It's THAT good."
Wow. True words of wisdom from the expert. You heard her.
So what happened in the Board Room on thursday night? Let's dive in.
Thursday dawned what we like to refer to here at SGA Public Relations as the 'world's longest Senate meeting (seriously. It was 2 1/2 hours long)'. With a couple stretch breaks and ice cream at the end, a ton actually did get accomplished.
We heard from Dean Kneser about the recent controversy surrounding the Vagina Carnival that was scheduled to take place in Crossroads and was later moved to the Pause with short notice. With a long question and answer session, Dean Kneser assured Senate that the situation was a series of events that began last year - and that policies will be set soon by the Senate so that things like this confusion won't happen again. The biggest concern was that it was moved in such short notice without warning. Things are a lot calmer, now. And both sides seem to be feeling better, which is great. If you have any question, feel free to e-mail Dean Kneser at kneser@stolaf.edu. The Buntrock Advisory Committee of Senate will be meeting soon to discuss this issue. More on this topic at a later time!
Next we heard from Maria Laverdiere '08, the Review and Planning Committee Senator, about the restructuring of the faculty committees this spring. The Faculty are required to serve on different committees dealing with campus life, and they will soon have a new look. One cool thing that is happening is that a "Student Life" committee will be forming in which the faculty will be able to engage students about life here on the hill. They are looking for 5 student representatives for next year. Senate will be discussing this topic more - what this will look like and where those students will come from. Both elections and appointments, perhaps? Hmm... A Ad-hoc committee was formed, chaired by Senator Laverdiere, and will report back on this in two weeks!
Lindsay Myers '08, the InterCampus Liaison with Carleton College, spoke next about the potential for bringing a Laser Tag program to St. Olaf this spring. She received a Finstead Grant to support this program, but is looking for more funding to start a new org on campus called "BOLT Laser Tag". It would be a portable laser tag program that could potentially be checked out by student orgs for fundraising or events! It would be maintained by Sen. Myers for the time being, as the program develops more. A proposal for funding will be brought to Senate next Thursday Night.
We next heard from Mary Cisar, college registrar, about the new online registration system that will continue to pilot for next year's semester one registration. During the Interim pilot, 77% of students got into their first choice, while 93% made it into either their first or second choice. The success of this pilot will be used again for semester registration. Students will submit their first choice for a course, and then second choice of a class online. The computer will randomly select members of the Junior class first, then sophs, then first years and place them in their first choice. It will then go through and do a similar process for the second choice. A week later, registration will take place in the ballrooms as normal, but students will then only register for the two other courses. The rationale for this is to 1.) test the system, and 2.) ease into the new program. Normal registration will be April 24th-26th. Prof. Cisar asks students to CAREFULLY read ALL e-mails from her to understand the process. Any questions can be directed to cisar@stolaf.edu.
We then heard from Gretchen Handweger, the Visiting Woodrow Wilson Fellow. It was incredible to hear about her experiences as director the Peace Core, with the World Bank, and with the U.N. Pretty sweet. When hearing about the new registration, Ms. Handweger laughed and said "I don't know hoe you all make it through that confusing stuff. Good luck!"
Finally, reports and announcements were given. Check out the minutes of the meeting on SGA bulletin board down by the P.O.s
That's all from this part of the woods. Happy Friday!
Foxy and TyTy
Up next, we heard about the new structure of the Faculty Committees that are being proposed at the next Faculty Meeting! With the saving grace of Ann Groton (See above picture), classics prof, leading the discussions, Senate laughed our way through the structural guidelines and proposals and poked fun at Dean Kneser for someone suggestion he be kept on a leash. There will be a new "Student Life" committee on campus next year with a proposed 5 student seats on it. In this arena, students and faculty will have better connections about what is going on in student life! This is looking to be a great move forward after 25 years of doing the same thing! We can all look forward to this. More information later!